Ports Regulator of South Africa appoints new CEO
25 April 2014 | PRESS STATEMENT
The Ports Regulator of South Africa wishes to announce the appointment of its new CEO, Mr. Mahesh Fakir, following the expiry of the contract of the previous CEO, Mr. Riad Khan.
We wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Riad Khan for his tireless pioneering efforts in the establishment of the Ports Regulator and the excellent work he has done in the ports sector. We are confident that we speak for all port stakeholders in paying tribute to Riad for his exemplary service and in wishing him well in his future endeavours, as well as in expressing the hope that he will continue to contribute to the success of the ports sector.
We also express our appreciation to Ms. Marissa Damons for acting as CEO during the interim period, maintaining continuity in the operations of the organization, during the recruitment, selection and Cabinet approval process for the appointment of a new CEO.
We are pleased that on the recommendation of the Members of the Ports Regulator, the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Minister Dipuo Peters has appointed Mr. Mahesh Fakir as the new CEO as of the 1st of May 2014, for a period of 5 years, as approved by Cabinet on 19 March 2014.
Mr. Mahesh Fakir is a professional Civil Engineer. He has extensive experience in the design and delivery of infrastructure projects in public sector institutions and has served in government at senior management level for the past 12 years. Mahesh served at the National Treasury for 8 years. During this period he helped establish and entrench infrastructure budgeting at country level, serving in the Budget Office as a Director, as well as in the Public Finance Division as a Chief Director. In the last four years, Mahesh served in the Presidency: Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation at DDG level as Outcome Facilitator for Economic Infrastructure. Key amongst his duties, was the monitoring of the performance of key economic infrastructure departments and state owned enterprises against targets in Ministerial delivery agreements, and ensuring that infrastructure outcomes were achieved.
Mahesh has contributed to the establishment and work of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, and was part of the technical team that formulated the SIPs that form part of the PICC National Infrastructure Plan, and contributed to the National Development Plan. He has amongst other publications, contributed over the years to the National Treasury Budget Reviews and the Estimates of National Expenditure, as well as the Presidency’s 20 Year Review and MTSF, and commissioned and edited the DBSA/DPME State of Economic Infrastructure Report.
Mahesh Fakir’s practical outlook is backed by a strong academic foundation having served as a senior lecturer in engineering at tertiary level. He holds three Masters degrees; an MSc in Civil Engineering (Durban – Westville), an MBA (Durban - Westville), and an MSc in Development Finance (London), in addition to other qualifications. He has represented our country on international platforms like the OECD and G20 and as part of other international delegations. He has also served on the Boards of public entities on a voluntary basis, as non-executive director at PRASA where he served as Audit Committee chairman and FCP Committee member, as well as on the Ports Regulator board as a Regulatory Committee member where he engaged with the ports tariff determination process.
We take this opportunity to thank Minister Peters as well as Cabinet, for the appointment of Mr. Mahesh Fakir as CEO of the Ports Regulator, and wish Mahesh well in the execution of his duties in fairly serving the interests of all port stakeholders, without fear or favour, over the term of his five year contract.
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